Neonatal services

The Neonatal team is committed to making your baby's care a happy experience for you and your family.

Your newborn baby will usually go to the postnatal ward with you. Your baby will be examined and may require special supervision of feeds and monitoring of blood sugar. Vitamin K is routinely given to all babies to reduce the risk of bleeding. Over the first few days of life, baby may develop jaundice and this will be monitored, with blood tests if necessary. Before going home, your baby will have a final examination and assessment.

All babies over 72 hours old will have blood taken by a heel prick for screening for metabolic disorders. This blood is taken onto a special card known as a PKU card.

When you are going home, you may be offered a six week check up appointment for your baby. The hospital runs an outpatient Baby Clinic, which will see babies by appointment only, Monday to Friday. An alternative six week check up would be with your GP, particularly if you are doing combined care under the Mother & Infant Care Scheme. If you have any concerns, it is a good idea to have them jotted down so that you can ask the doctor about them. Some babies, particularly those who have been in the Special Care Baby Unit, may need to return after this examination for further review, and sometimes need to attend the Physiotherapy Department.

We do hope that whatever contact you have with the Neonatal Team will be a happy and memorable one, and a member of the team will always be willing to answer any queries you may have.

Neonatal Centre & Special Care Baby Unit

The Neonatal Centre is a 40 cot facility where babies born prematurely or who are ill receive special and intensive care treatment. Highly skilled and dedicated nursing and medical staff work there using the most modern and advanced technology.

Between 15-20 per cent of newborn infants need to be admitted to the Neonatal Centre. The hospital also provides a regional and national neonatal service for premature infants born in other hospitals, and those with complex conditions. Many babies are small and/or premature and require special attention for their breathing and/or feeding. Depending on the reason for their admission, your baby may stay for a few hours, some days or even weeks or months.

Mothers at risk of delivering a premature or sick infant are encouraged to visit the Neonatal Centre, along with their partners, prior to the expected delivery. They will be taken on a tour of the Centre and shown equipment that may be used in the care of their baby. Most couples who have made this visit agree that it is invaluable in alleviating the stress associated with unfamiliar surroundings if the need for their baby's admission arises.

In addition, members of staff have compiled the Coombe Baby Fax. This resource contains simple language and clear descriptions for everything a parent is likely to encounter while their baby is being care for in the Neonatal Centre. Baby Fax was funded by the Centre's Fundraising Committee and Abbott Laboratories Ireland and is available for download as a pdf here: Coombe Baby Fax

If you are a private or semi-private patient and your baby needs our care in the Neonatal Centre, baby will be treated as a private patient.